A Heartbreak Away
by yingxy
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran are two lost souls drawn together as children, but one day violence and terror tear them apart, and Syaoran walks out of Sakura's life. Years later, they find each other again, but things change.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

The Beginning

Five-year-old Sakura Kinomoto ran out into the rain, a tiny hand held over her head, hardly shielding her from the torrent of water. Under a lamp post metres away, a lanky boy stood with his back to her.

Sakura scuttled up to him and planted herself on his right. He wore nothing more than an old T-shirt and faded jeans, both already drenched by the rain. Sakura felt guilty for her brand new slicker and wellingtons that Mama had just bought for her that weekend. She shrugged it off and held it in her hands, but couldn't quite make herself step out of the wellingtons that kept her little toes warm.

"Sakura, you get away from him!" Tomoyo Daidouji, her cousin and best friend, looked warily at her company and stayed a fifty paces away, yelling over the roar of the rain. "Grampa's gonna drive us! Come on! Get away from him!"

Everybody knew that Syaoran Li was dangerous. Only nine and he'd already known how to wield a knife better than any grown man in town, and Sakura was sure he could gut anyone of them had they ever dared to mess with him, too. Syaoran was poor, and his parents were from the wrong side of the tracks. The whoring drunk and the whore were the worst kind of trash there was, according to Mama and Papa when they discussed the lives of Syaoran and his family, always a favorite topic, in the privacy of their bedroom when they thought she wasn't evesdropping.

Sakura had always felt that Syaoran had protected himself as fiercely as he did against pity.

"I'm taking the bus to school, same as anybody! You can go with Grampa." Sakura turned her head and faced forward, waiting until Tomoyo sighed and walked away.

"Go on and get away from me." It was said so quietly Sakura at first couldn't be sure he had spoken, then was ecstatic that he had.

"I'm taking the bus! We're waiting for the bus together." Sakura spoke carefully. He had such a nice voice, really, low and manly, at least to her young ears. "My name's Sakura, and you're Syaoran." It was more a statement than a question.

"I know your name. Go on with your grampa. Get away." He wasn't looking at her.

"I'm taking the bus, and I'm taking it with you! Now that you know my name and I know yours, we're friends now, okay?"

"Go on, you. You'll get me in trouble." He still refused to look at her.

"Why would I? I won't, you'll see!" she swore with the earnestness of innocent youth.

"You don't know anything."

"I do know things!" Sakura thought hard, then said, "But you can teach me if you think I don't!" Sakura was five, and couldn't care less about propriety. The town princess and the son of the resident drunkard and all around loser. There was no hope for any kind of friendship.

Sakura was the only child of the Mayor of Patience, Georgia, and was the closest thing to a princess the town had. She had curly brown hair that her mama would swear was as soft as down feathers, the brightest green eyes anyone had ever seen, and a rosy, round face that everyone fell in love with on sight. She had made it her mission to make friends with Syaoran Li. Afterall, he had no friends, and neither did she, having been cosseted and babied to within an inch of her life. They were two peas in a pod, to her mind, and were meant to be together.

The rain wasn't relenting, and Sakura's small frame began to shiver violently from the cold. Syaoran glanced at her shaking, then said, "Put on the damn jacket. You'll get me in trouble."

Sakura gasped silently. He had said a bad word! It was a bad, bad word. Mama would have skinned her alive had she ever dared to utter such a bad word. She immediately forced herself to stop shivering. "Am not! You won't get into trouble, I promise."

The arrival of the bus prevented him from answering,or perhaps retorting, and Sakura stepped into the warmth with a sigh of relief. Her wellingtons squeaked on the floorboards as she made her way to where Syaoran sat, subbornly staring out the window.

"I'm sitting here, okay?" without waiting for an answer, Sakura plopped herself down beside him.

He felt really warm. She could feel the heat through both layers of clothes, and suddenly felt so much better. She beamed at him, but he stoically focused through the pane of glass, as if the answer to the mystery of the universe lay just beyond it.

Sakura sat quietly throughout the rest of the bus ride. She was thinking. Syaoran seemed to think that being seen with her would get him into some kind of trouble. She made a point on her mental checklist to convince Syaoran that he'd be safe with her, just as safe as she strangely felt with him.

Once she stepped off the bus, she was accosted by Carl Dingham, a cousin of sorts. It seemed the entire town was covered in the roots of her family heritage. You could go nowhere without touching someone related to her. Carl was eleven, big, and mean as they came, and apparently family meant nothing to him. He had a shock of blond hair on his plump head, which always seemed to Sakura to have been screwed too deep into his neck-less tank of a body.

"Where are you doing, you loser?" he reached up a surprisingly quick hand and yanked on her messy ponytail, practically just a stub that Mama had stuffed her riotous short hair into to give a semblance of neatness. Still, it hurt when it was pulled, and Sakura, as if yanked right off her feet, went flying, head-first.

She lay on the ground, trying to catch her breath, waiting resignedly for the cackle of laughter that always meant a Carl Dingham getaway after an attack. It never came. She gasped and wheezed as she sat up.

Syaoran, tall for his age and as tall as any eleven-year-old, had had Carl by his starched lapels and had slammed him to the playground wall. Standing there, he growled menacingly. "Don't you touch her again." He let Carl drop to the ground, crying.

Sakura wobbled over and wound a hand through Carl's blond locks and gave a painful yank of her own. Better late revenge than never. Carl burst into even more violent tears. Syaoran watched her with shuttered eyes.

"Thank you, Syaoran." she grinned all her baby pearly whites at him.

The way Sakura figured it, she'd been put onto the earth to take care of Syaoran, because no one else wanted to. They'd protect each other.

Note: I was advised to put a line here so you guys could separate my story from my notes, but the website doesn't allow me to for some reason. Oh well I'm sorry. I know it says romance/drama, and that's what it is, but I'm a humorous person, and I like humour, so there's bound to be some in here, so no worries! This is the start of a new story. I give you the first chapter. Enjoy!


	2. Funerals And Flowers

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Funerals And Flowers

When Sakura turned six, Syaoran's mama died, and Papa told her as he bounced her on his knee that a bad man had taken her away while she was doing her job, so she wouldn't be coming back. Sakura cried for Syaoran. His mama wasn't much of one, the whole town knew it, but she was still his mama, and Sakura was sure he'd be sad.

The funeral had been donated by the whole town, as Big Li couldn't really care less if his wife had gotten buried in the end or not. Still, the goodwill ambassadors of the town, made up of all the nosy wives of the town's important people, made sure Big Li had a suit to wear, and even ten-year-old Syaoran had a relatively new shirt and slacks, just for the occasion.

Sakura eyed him across the funeral parlour. Her Uncle Ted owned it and ran it, and she knew what they were supposed to do now. They were supposed to be quiet while the thin man in the blackest suit she had ever seen stood in front of the coffin facing them and read them a bedtime story from his thick book. Sakura knew it was a bedtime story because she always went to sleep when mama read to her from a similar book.

Syaoran seemed to have put on his emptiest, blankest face while he stood a little away from his father. Big Li had been made to stay sober, and was antsy and bad-tempered because of it. Sakura let go of Mama's hand and got a better grip on the flowers Mama had given her to hold. It was an important job, Mama had said, for an important little girl. Sakura intended to do it right.

Syaoran was staring into space as if removed from the crowd. Sakura had always felt he was the only person who could be all alone in a crowded room. She decided they would be alone together.

Grasping the flowers like a life-line, Sakura tramped over to him. He'd seen her coming, and she caught a light in his chocolate brown eyes before he carefully banked his pleasure. She worked even harder to get through the crowd, all of them twice as tall as she was.

Syaoran cast a nervous glance around and made to step away from her, as if someone would come and clamp handcuffs on him just for being seen with her. Sakura stopped dead. "I'm not afraid of you, why're you afraid of me?" she whispered sadly.

"You don't know anything. Go on back to your Mama. Go on now." he whispered back, and Sakura felt that they were somehow sharing some intimate little secret.

"You stop saying that! I do know things! I just want to stand here." She stood beside him. She felt a shift in Syaoran. When before he'd been silently shielding himself, he'd somehow shifted so that he was shielding both of them, from what Sakura had no clue.

"These are for you." she offered her flowers with no thought to the important job she was supposed to be doing. "Take them!" she continued when he made no move toward them. A corner of his mouth crooked up in a ghost of a smile, and Sakura thought he looked more handsome than any of the cootie-filled boys at school. She wondered what he'd look like with a full smile, and was even more encouraged.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Mama look down toward her legs, where Sakura was supposed to be, then begin scanning the crowd. She didn't look too worried; Sakura was a wanderer, she'd always said, but as long as she came home in the end, she wouldn't worry. At least she didn't until she clapped eyes on Syaoran standing beside Sakura. Concern flew into her eyes and she nudged Papa in the ribs. Sakura saw Papa hold one hand to his side and listen to Mama whispering to him. He looked over at them too, but just whispered back and they both looked to the front.

Sakura knew Syaoran had caught the whole thing. He had eyes as sharp as a cat. She looked up triumphantly. Mama and Papa had given the okay. He wouldn't get in trouble, just like she told him. He shook his head down at her, as if to remind her she really did know nothing, but he didn't move away.

When it was time to go up to the coffin to talk to Syaoran's mama, Sakura pressed her flowers into his hand, so he went up with them. Standing beside the open coffin, he stared down into his mother's face. Silently, face as guarded as ever, he lay the bouquet on the lid. He went back to sit beside Sakura in the back row.

"You did good, Syaoran." she carefully patted his hand on his knee. It was cold, but she didn't care.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, skinny girl." He graced her with another one of his slight smiles, and Sakura felt all warm inside. Maybe Syaoran was sad, but he'd recover, because he was strong. And when he wasn't, Sakura would be strong for him. It was what friends did, she was sure.

Everything had been going alright, until Big Li started acting up again. Somehow, he'd sneaked in a bottle of whiskey and had dug into it with all the fervour of an old hand. Now, standing on one of the folding chairs in the middle of the parlour, he'd begun yelling the house down.

"Goddamn you, Yelan. Now you're dead, you whore! Rot in hell!" Sakura hadn't heard anymore after that because Mama had snatched her from Syaoran's side and covered her ears with shaking hands. Everyone was giving Big Li a wide berth, and Papa, along with his poilce chief and fire chief brothers had to take Big Li down from his lofty perch. Someone produced handcuffs and the screaming drunk was carted away, swearing revenge on the whole earth and all its inhabitants.

Sakura watched Syaoran from the comfort of Mama's arms. He was frozen in painful shame, and suddenly jerked as if hit. "Syaoran," she mewled.

Syaoran cast one apologetic glance her way then slipped quietly out of the parlour. Sakura knew where he was going. He didn't want to be put in a home while Big Li was in jail, and whenever his father had to spend the night in lock up Syaoran always escaped to the woods surrounding his trailer park home. There he was safe from well-meaning, prying hands, and there he would stay until Big Li came back and Syaoran could continue to live at the trailer.

Sakura had followed him there one day half a year ago, and they'd sat huddled together on a fallen log the whole day, saying nothing, until the sun set and Sakura went home to a frantic mama. Sakura wasn't worried about Syaoran. He knew how to look after himself, and her whenever they were together.

The next day, Sakura evesdropped at Papa and Mama's bedroom door again. She'd discovered long ago that most of the news floating around the town would be rehashed in great detail there. No one had discovered where that 'Syaoran boy' had gone, but all the townsfolk were out looking for him. There was a place for him in the local boys' home, but Papa wanted to take him in, give him a real home for a change, at least for a while. Sakura kept the hope bottled down inside her.

Dinner that night was chicken wings and thick soup and fish and vegetables. Sakura looked at the spread with swimming green eyes and secreted most of her own dinner away, bundled in the napkin on her lap. The sky was still light when they finished, and Sakura asked Mama if she could go and play outside. She'd played in the woods ever since she'd learnt how to walk, and Mama knew she could take care of herself. Besides, her mother was a shrewd woman who ran her household like a business, spic and span and efficient, and she definitely knew where her little girl was going with that greasy napkin, no doubt about it. Leery as she was about the Li boy, she knew he'd take care of Sakura. And if he didn't, well then, she would skin him alive.

Sakura ran on little legs toward the first layer of trees, thinking that she'd fooled her mama, giggling about it. Syaoran would have dinner tonight, and Sakura would make sure of it.

Note; That's chapter two! Erm, I just wanted to say something totally unrelated to my story. While surfing I came across an author, I won't say who, who refuses to upload the next chapter until he/she gets their quota of reviews! I mean, this is like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, and doesn't say much for both the author and the reviewers. I mean, if you're an author who loves writing for _writing_, why should I have to review just so you keep the story coming? It's insulting to me, as the reader! I mean, I love reviews, but this is a bit rediculous.


	3. Dinners

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Dinners

Sakura scrambled up a small gorge and nearly slid back down. Her tiny hands had cuts on the fingers, and her knees were scraped from scaling the rock hill. But she had to get to the top. Syaoran was there, and he needed dinner. She'd clumsily pinned the napkin to the back of her shorts and didn't spare a thought for the expensive fabric getting greasier and greasier as it came into contact with the napkin.

She slipped again, and let out a yelp, but stong fingers latched onto her wrists and pulled her to safety as if she were feather-light. Syaoran knelt at the edge, holding her, saving her. She lay on her stomach on the cool grass at his knees, gasping for breath.

"Wow, Syaoran. Thought I was a goner there. Thanks for saving my life!" she peeped over the edge at the four meter drop with all the fear of a twenty meter-high cliff. Everything looked big when you were six years old and small for your age. Shuddering, Sakura scrambled to a sitting position and scooted over to Syaoran. She wanted to get away from the edge, understandably.

"What're you doing here, skinny girl?" he asked resignedly. Sakura had been following him around for a year. Once she got wind of him, she go scouting until she found him and made sure he wasn't alone.

"I got you dinner!" Sakura beamed proudly, and lofted the napkin bundle, all fear forgotten. Syaoran eyed the oily pink cloth, then pulled her to her feet with one hand on her arm.

They sat on the same log that they had all those months ago. It was a young redwood tree, and it was huge enough that Sakura could spread open the napkin between them and sit cross-legged comfortably.

"We have chicken and fish and vegetables and rice." She pointed at the food in question with a small finger. "I couldn't get soup because I can't carry soup in a piece of cloth!" she laughed like it was the simplest thing in the world, then grinned at him. "I gave you all my vegetables, because I don't like vegetables. You probably don't like them either, so you can throw them away, I won't mind."

Syaoran was staring at her with his unfanthomable brown eyes. "Was this your dinner?" he asked softly.

Sakura immediately recognised her mistake.

"No! No, it's not. Eat up!" she scooped her hands and pushed them up and toward him. Her stomach grumbled at that moment, spoiling her ruse. Syaoran narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't have to say anything.

"I have so much to eat at home! I want you to eat!" Sakura quickly said, eyes pleading. Syaoran continued to stare at her, but she thought his eyes softened just a little bit.

"We'll share." Picking up a chicken wing with dirty fingers, Syaoran offered it to her. Sakura's little heart trembled in her chest and nearly fell. She accepted the wing and ate it in silence. She was willing to take what she could get, as long as Syaoran ate good food as often as she could provide it.

Later, Syaoran led her to a small stream he'd lived off all those times he had to escape and Sakura washed her stinging fingers in the cool water.

"I'm no sissy, I'm not going to cry." she told him defensively, squatting beside him as he quietly watched her.

"I know you aren't." he said simply, but a tear leaked out from under her lids anyway. Mortified, she pressed her face to her knees, wishing she'd worn longer shorts or jeans so there was cloth to dab her eyes with.

Later, she would have said that the pain was simple, when the agony Syaoran lived with was so complex she would never have begun to understand it.

Syaoran inched closer to her and held his arm out, dangling the over-sized sleeve in front of her face. Sakura dried her eyes daintily and continued to wash the blood off her fingers, blinking away new tears all the while.

They eventually lay down side by side on the bank and waited for the sun to set, waited for when Sakura had to leave him and go home.

"How long're you planning to stay here? I'll bring you food every night, I promise." Sakura faced him, asking and promising with the same youthful eagerness.

Syaoran shook his head at the sky. "As long as it takes, skinny girl. Don't bring me food no more. I'm not hungry."

"You'll be hungry tomorrow!" she insisted, then touched on the ever-present bone-to-pick between them. "And I'm not skinny! Mama says I'll just grow into my skin, that's all. You gotta give me time." she poked him in the shoulder.

Syaoran chuckled, the laugh that Sakura was so facinated by, the one that sounded as if he needed some practice but would sound great once he got the hang of it.

When dusk came, Syaoran guided her back down the gorge and walked her to the edge of the forest. There, he watched her silently as she ran home, making sure she got there alright.

Sakura walked back into the living room at home and heard Mama and Papa talking in the kitchen about Big Li. Hearing Syaoran's name, Sakura stopped dead in the doorway and listened shamelessly.

Big Li would be kept in jail for another month for disturbing the peace. Actually, the townsfolk were holding him on a lot more of bad feelings than anything else, and now Syaoran had to be found so he could be taken care of. Sakura wound little fingers around the doorframe and hoped as hard as she could.

The next evening, Sakura brought her dinner to the woods again, and Syaoran met her at the bottom of the gorge this time. Apparently, he'd known she wouldn't listen to him and would come anyway. He clambered up beside her, agile as a lizard, and held out a hand at the top to pull her up the last few slippery ledges.

They ate the food off another napkin, on the same log. This time, Syaoran started talking first. "Skinny girl, You've gotta stop coming here. Your Mama'll know, and we'll get into trouble."

Sakura considered it progress that he'd started thinking of them as a team. That's what she knew from the first; they were in it together. "You I won't, no she won't, and no we won't." she continued stuffing her face with the cranberries Mama had set out for dessert. How she loved berries of all kinds.

She went back the same way she came, and the next day she went back again. Syaoran had stopped going to school ever since his Papa had gone to jail, so she only saw him in the evenings. Luckily, Carl hadn't dared touch her after Syaoran had dealt with him.

Five days passed, and Papa and Mama never gave any indication that they knew where their little princess had been running off to after dinner every night. One day, Sakura stepped back into the house to hear Papa and Mama talking about Syaoran again. There was a chance Big Li's sentence would be lengthened. The town couldn't really feel guilty, because at least in jail he would be fed and clothed, unlike when he lived at the trailer park, and he let himself and his home and his son rot, only Syaoran had refused to rot.

Listening to Papa say that he wanted to take Syaoran into his own home, Sakura took a huge leap of faith a told them about the forest.

Note; Chapter three! Wow, MikaKagome1113 has a lot of strong views, and I totally am with you, girl! I love you so much for reviewing every chapter I've ever written! You know what? I'm _your_ fan!


	4. Redemption

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Redemption

Sakura knew the moment Papa's Ford Lincoln pulled up into their four-car driveway. She scrambled off her bay window, where she'd sat and kept vigil, and ran down the stairs. Mama caught her in thin air just as she was hurtling through the front door, and held her firmly to her side on the theshold.

"Mama!" Sakura squirmed, but stopped moving entirely as Syaoran stepped out of the front seat and Papa out of the driver's side. She watched his face carefully for any sign of reaction, but he gave no indication of any whatsoever. He'd learnt far too young to shield his feelings. Sakura wondered sadly if he'd ever been a kid.

Sakura stood impotently beside Mama as Papa guided Syaoran into the house. Syaoran sat gingerly on the plush couch in the living room, as if trying not to any of his dirt onto the clean fabric. Sakura yearned to sit next to him and pat his knee and tell him it was going to be alright, because she was rescuing him for once.

Papa sat in his chair, the red armchair by the fireplace, and faced the errant boy sitting proudly straight and tall on the sofa. "Boy-"

"Sir," Syaoran interrupted, his words rushing out as if he didn't want to lose his courage before he said them. "I ain't taking no charity, Sir. I don't want no charity."

Papa took a deep breath, then paused as if in thought. "Well then, what do you propose we do with you?" his face was hard but his eyes were kind. Sakura loved him with all the idolatry of a six-year-old daughter who was still referred to as 'Baby Girl'.

"I have two dollars! You can have it!" Sakura spoke up, but Syaoran refused to break eye contact with her father, and Mama shushed her.

"Sir, if I could work for you, I'd rather that than live off you."

Papa watched him steadily. "I think if you do the same amount of chores that Sakura does every week, your lodging and food are covered. If you help out a little more, I'll pay you salary. How's that?" Papa took out his prize oak pipe that Mama had bought for him one anniversary a long time ago, and began to fill it up.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you very much, Sir." Something in Syaoran's eyes changed, and Sakura only knew because she had been watching him so long and so hard that her own eyes hurt.

Later, before Sakura could dash off to the guest room beside her own that Syaoran had been put up in, Mama took her aside. "Darling, I want you to listen here. You are to treat Syaoran as you would a brother, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mama." Sakura nodded absently, completely unaware of what Mama had just said, squirming deep inside to see what Syaoran was doing to the room to make it his, how he was adapting.

"Okay," Mama sighed. She knew when Sakura got ansty, and she obviously needed to check on her little friend now, she reluctantly let her go, all too aware of the little tickle she had on her shoulder. Call it mother's instinct, if you will, but whatever it was, Sakura's Mama knew that all too soon something big was going to happen. It would involve her own little darling, and she could do nothing at all about it.

Syaoran was sitting on the newly-made bed in all it's clean-sheeted glory, staring at the room in awe. Sakura realised she had caught him in one of his private moments, yet shamelessly lunged over to him and bounced on the bed.

Syaoran just looked over at her once, then proceeded to run his bare feet to and fro on the carpet, as if barely believing in it's texture.

Sakura grinned at the wonder on his face. "I'm so happy you're here." she said simply, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." he continued looking around the room, not touching anything, taking in the set of dresser drawers in aged wood, the mirror above a little study table in one corner, the curved headboard of the high bed with the thick mattress, the peach-coloured walls.

"You're permanent now, okay? you'll stay with us now, okay?" Sakura leaned over and poked him in the side, her tiny finger hardly making a dent in muscles long conditioned by hard labour and hard living.

"I..." Syaoran shook his head slightly. "I don't know, skinny girl." What started out as faint teasing had soon become an affectionate nickname, and Sakura secretly relished it, even as she protested out loud.

"I'm not skinny!" she said loudly, just to see him smile that special smile, the bigger one than he ever showed to the public, the one reserved only for her.

"You are skinny. Look." he picked up her wrist, and his long fingers circled them and overlapped. Sakura tried hard not to pout.

"Anyway, say you'll stay with us. See? I told you you'd never get into trouble with me! Papa and Mama want you here with us! I want you here with me!" Her green eyes bore holes into his soul.

"Aw, skinny girl..." he looked down at her sadly, and inexplicable regret suffusing his entire demeanour. "You and I, we're different. You can't keep on comin' and chasing me down like this. Your Mama'll think somethin's goin' on."

"How can she think something's going on? What's going on? We're friends though, right?"

"Yeah."

"You're safe with me, Syaoran."

"Yeah."

That evening, Syaoran ate his very first family dinner at Sakura's table. He'd scrubbed himself raw, his cheeks pink and clean, smelling like man's soap. Sakura was so pleased. He watched her carefully throughout the meal, following her when she unfolded the napkin and placed in her lap. Sakura wondered if he would have imitated her if she'd made a lasso of her napkin and lassoed herself some buns.

If cleanliness were forgiveness then Syaoran wanted them to know he'd redeemed himself.

That evening, after dinner, Sakura sneaked some of her picture books into Syaoran's room, so he could read himself to sleep. She herself loved to read, and her picture books had already got less pictures and more words than Tomoyo's at school, and they were the same age.

Tucked under the covers and listening to Mama read her her nightly bedtime story, Sakura felt guilty all over again, and when Mama finally kissed her on the cheek goodnight, Sakura wondered if Syaoran had ever gotten a kiss goodnight before.

Note: This story's got a slightly different... okay, _very_ different timeline from my first, as this story spreads over years and years, while the other was a scupulously planned 3 weeks, as most of ya'll know. Hahaha. How to fall in love in 3 weeks. I should write a book. Hahahahaha. Well, I really hope you guys enjoy this story. Tell me how it is when you have the time, and make my day, eh? Thanks!


	5. Horses

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Horses

It was Spring, and the flowers all over Papa's land were blooming beautifully. The sky was an unrelieved blue almost everyday and the breeze cooling the air was just glorious. Sakura's birthday was coming.

Syaoran had been with them almost a month now. Mama was so good with him, always managing to foist new clothes on him without making it seem like he was any different. After the wonderful month, even Mama's eerie feeling of ill-fate had all but faded away, and Sakura was allowed outside in the woods with Syaoran till two hours past dusk.

Mama's faith in him had been established a week before Sakura's birthday. Sakura had gone on her annual birthday present hunt, sure that Mama had hidden it somewhere around the barn this year. The hints had not gone unnoticed.

"Come on Syaoran! We gotta go look! Come on! You can exercise the horses later!" Syaoran had been discovered to have had a natural talent with horses the second day he'd arrived and calmed a particularly skittish horse merely by talking to it. Only eleven, he'd managed to master riding horses beautifully, and Sakura practically burst at the seams with pride whenever Papa praised him.

"Skinny girl, I gotta do my work, or I can't stay. You know that.". Syaoran looked down at her, staring silently, feelings banked under shuttered eyes, like he always did.

Sakura bravely stood in front of the huge animal controlled dubiously by only two small hands. The horse seemed to rear at her even as she eyed it warily. Tearing her eyes from it's intimitating head for one second, she pierced Syaoran with a look that pityingly beseeched him to accompany her. Syaoran took a long look at her green eyes wide open in pleading, lip pushed dangerously into a pout. Sakura had gotten many a chocolate off Mama with that face, and Syaoran sighed long-sufferingly before he made the preparations to slide off the saddle.

Suddenly, it seemed the air crackled with tension a split second before the scene broke into action. A yellow puppy, the smallest of the new litter born just at the end of winter to the barn dog, Kerrie, came bulleting out of the open doors of the barn, and came straight for the horse. The small puppy, meaning to play, circled the majestic animal's hooves and the horse immediately reared up in defence.

As the giant hooves came crashing down, Sakura lunged to protect the small body at her feet. Crouching into a ball, she fell under the horse's hooves, unable to scream in her overwhelming terror, clutching the puppy close to her chest.

And Syaoran was there. She heard a sickening crack of bone, and expected to feel the white-hot heat searing through her at any moment. Numb with shock and fear, she opened one eye and felt a warm weight on her back. Immediately, she knew what had happened. Letting go of the squirming body in her arms, she released the puppy and crawled out from under Syaoran.

He was on his stomach, breathing harshly. After one kick, the horse had realised who had taken the brunt of the attack and had slunk off to graze in the field.

"Syaoran? Syaoran! Syaoran! Talk!" She was afraid to touch him for fear of hurting him, yet wanted to take him into herself so he didn't have to bear the pain alone. She was suddenly aware that she was crying.

He sat up heroically and clutched his side, swaying on the ground. "Are you okay?".

"I'm fine! You just stay here, Syaoran. Don't move, I'll go get Mama!" Up and running as fast as her short legs could carry her, Sakura was gone before he could say a word more.

As good as her word, her mother was only a few steps behind Sakura back to the barn, and Syaoran was quickly dispatched to the nearest hospital in town.

When the doctor reported nothing but two broken ribs later, Sakura still burst into tears, convinced that as long as something was broken, Syaoran was going to die very painfully.

Mother and daughter were ushered into Syaoran's room to find a very embarrassed young boy sitting stiff and straight under the covers on the hospital bed.

"Ma'am, I'm alright now, I reckon, and ya'll don't need to spend money on me to see me through this place. I'm all fixed up now." Disguising his wincing manfully, Syaoran began to maneuver off the bed.

Mama flew to his side and began tucking him in all over again, telling him in no-nonsense tones that he'd better stay there in bed or there'd be hell to pay. Syaoran got a stubborn look on his face that told Sakura he was going to contest what Mama had said, and Sakura quickly dashed over to the bed and bounced over to him.

"Syaoran, you're okay!" she leaned close to give him a gentle hug, trying not to aggravate his condition, and Syaoran shifted her over to his uninjured side so she could be close to him for a few seconds more before Mama got jittery.

Mama decided not to worry about that for now, and proceeded to grill Syaoran about what had happened.

"You-" Syaoran winced again in pain, "You don't have to worry about Sakura when I'm there, Ma'am. I'll not let anythin' hurt her."

Mama accepted that with a firm nod, and Sakura was very impressed. There was a warm feeling snaking up her insides, and when Mama left to take care of the hospital bills, Sakura sat on the bed beside Syaoran again. He only stared at her with his quiet, dark eyes that held a wealth of emotion that no one could decipher.

"Do you hurt?" She asked him.

"No." It was an obvious lie, but they both let it go.

"If... if someone tried to hurt me, what... what would you do?"

He didn't even bat an eyelash or hesitate. "I'd try to kill him."

Sakura wound her fingers with his and they sat like that until Mama came back.

Finally, it was Sakura's birthday. March never seemed to pass so slowly, and finally, at long last, April was here. Mama had made a huge chocolate cake, and dinner was made up of all of Sakura's vices and favorites. Most importantly, chocolate ice cream for dessert. The entire family was invited, and the relatives spilled out onto the porch and the lawn beyond. The days at the beginning of Spring were long, so it was light out, and would still be late into the night, at least until nine. There would be lots of time to play.

Sakura was obliged to play with her cousins. However, the only one who didn't annoy her was Tomoyo, and Tomoyo had caught the flu. Syaoran seemed to stick out at the party like a sore thumb, daring any of her male cousins to mess with him. Carl Dingham had been invited, and he sneered glumly at Syaoran from the safety of his mother's side.

Mama's sister, Aunt Mary, was telling Mama again how bad an idea it was to take Syaoran in. "The family comes over and Sakura is off with that boy, Maybelle. We never see her anymore!"

"It's not like she loves to see you." Mama whispered to herself under her breath, but one quick glance around told her that they had both disappeared again.

Note: A little bird told me that I would get more reviews were I less prompt, and I agree with her. You guys are very mean to me, hardly reviewing and all, after all I do to keep you happy! Hmph. Feeling unappreciated here:p

But I want to thank Artificial Happiness for giving me so many at once! Making my day! Hope you enjoy this one.


	6. Presents

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Presents

Sitting facing each other on the high loft in the barn with the last bit of daylight filtering through a hole in the barn wall, Sakura and Syaoran sat eating birthday cake. Mama wasn't around. Sakura cast one last guilty look around before she dug into the chocolate sponge with her bare hands.

Suddenly, she felt something with corners pushing onto her legs. Taking away the vision-blocking paper plate, she saw a brightly coloured present on her lap, and a quick glance up told her Syaoran was staring at a spot just above her shoulder with just the faintest blush working up his neck.

Sakura loved presents. She gave a squeal and grabbed it up in her hands, shaking it lightly, wondering what was inside. "Thank you Syaoran!" Another look over at him made her beam so hard she thought her face might crack. Happiness coursed through her. He was sitting stoically, shrugging at her, so she knew it was important.

"Happy birthday." he said simply. "Not so skinny anymore."

Now seven years old, she still didn't know the meaning nor value of anticipation, so she broke through the ribbons and paper unceremoniously, throwing shreds all over the place until she got to the good stuff beneath it.

Now, Sakura was both her Mama's pampered girly girl and a self-imposed tomboy, and the fake piece of jade pleased her as much as a real one would have. Her eyes popped wide open and she stared mouth agape at the simple green rock lying cool in her hands. It was round and green and as big as Mama's thumbnail. She clutched the gold-plated chain with both hands, birthday cake forgotten. "Syaoran..."

She slid the chain over her head and it came to rest on her chest. Lunging forward, she caught the hopelessly embarrassed boy in a fierce hug. "Thank you, Syaoran, thank you, thank you! I love it! I'll wear it forever!"

His hands slowly came up across her waist to hug her back. Craning her neck, Sakura pecked a chocolate-birthday-cake-filled kiss on his jaw, and Syaoran jerked just a bit. Then he looked cautiously around to check for witnesses. Seeing no one, he sighed, and pulling her just a tiny bit closer, he said into her hair, "Happy birthday, Sakura."

Just before the end of fall, Big Li was let out of the jailhouse. The little town of Patience wasn't big enough to have a prison, so it had a small, dusty building that passed for a jailhouse, and it was from there that Big Li emerged after five months of lock up. He'd agreed himself to live there for the good five months, as he'd be taken care of and he'd wouldn't have to pay for anything. It was a small price for the town to pay to keep the peace. Still, he came out and went straight to the bar, blaming everything from the Mayor, Sakura's father, to the moon for 'keeping an innocent man from freedom'. He had gotten so drunk that first day that the owner of the bar, Mr. McKinley, and his two brothers had had to carry the passed out drunk outside to one of their cars and drive the sucker home.

The day Big Li came out, Syaoran was so tense he seemed coiled up like a spring. Sakura wan't able to reach him for days before that. It seemed he was waiting for something to happen, always something to happen. Something bad.

Sakura took to Mama's and Papa's bedroom door again, taking whatever information she found there and secreting it away, divulging everything to Syaoran as soon as possible. As the days went past, Syaoran's mouth got thinner and thinner, and he walked around on light feet with his body tight, as if waiting for an excuse to run, or to fight. Sakura watched him with a kind of confusion and sadness. She never expected him to be so in dread. She needed to save him all over again.

Finally, Big Li went back to his trailer park house, and Syaoran looked as if he was going to be sent to the gallows. That night, Sakura squatted beside her parents' bedroom door, listening as Mama and Papa talked.

"I don't want that boy with his father, Aiden. I want him here, with us." Mama was crying, for some reason. Mama never cried. To Sakura, Mama was what kept the world working. If Mama was crying, someone must've died, or the world wasn't working right anymore.

Papa's voice was muffled, as if he'd hugged his wife and was talking into her shoulder or her neck. "I know, May, I know. I've already made the arrangements for dependency." Sakura wrapped her hands around the piece of jade still hanging around her neck that she hadn't taken off since Syaoran had given it to her. Dependency. What did that mean? Was it good? Mama was still crying, and Papa sounded tired. It didn't sound good. Tears filled Sakura's eyes. Papa was talking again.

"We won't adopt him, because he still has a father, and God knows if he still loves the bastard," Sakura gasped. Papa had said a bad word! But there were more pressing matters. "-and we don't know if he... well, if he wants us, but we'll be his legal guardians, and that has to be enough."

"Oh Aiden," Mama breathed out the words, and for some reason, Sakura felt relieved, like a crisis had passed, even if she hadn't a clue what had just transpired. "I love you." Sakura left her corner to go find Syaoran.

Syaoran was in the stables, predictably. "Syaoran! Syaoran!"

He looked blankly down at her from his horse. Sakura stayed at the barn door. She'd found a phobia of horses ever since that fateful day in March. Syaoran, seeing her face, immediately dismounted far away from her and walked over. "Yeah?"

"What's a legal guardian?"

Syaoran never asked 'why' of her. He'd never thought she was weird, like everyone at school. He just answered. "Someone who takes care of you because the government says he can, but he's not your Mama or Papa."

Sakura's eyes went big, and it seemed as if the green would jump out at him. "Syaoran! Mama and Papa are gonna be your legal guardians! That means you really are permanent, right?"

He also never questioned her, he just accepted. His eyes softened, and his body relaxed just a tad. A look of wonder came over his face. "Well what d'you know." He sat down where he stood, on the barn floor.

Sakura sat down with him, not even giving a cursory thought to her new overalls. She held his hand, much the same way as she had in the hospital that day, and smiled at him. "I told you you wouldn't get into trouble."

Syaoran looked over at her. "You did." He gave one of his crooked smiles that Sakura liked so much again. "Thanks, Sakura."

Sakura accepted his gratitude with a nod and a grin. The autumn air seemed to swirl with a sense of anticipation and peace. Sitting there, hands entwined together, on the wooden floor with the smell of hay and horses around them, they watched the cool wind lift fallen leaves off the ground and carry them up into the air outside with a kind of awe.

It was a season for miracles.

Note: And that's chapter six! Please tell me what you think, because this is my first time writing this kind of story, with drama and stuff like that. I also noticed, after another little bird told me, that I'd been banning anonomous reviews! Okay, I'd just like to say that I HAD NO IDEA. I'm sorry. I've fixed it already, so please review! I just want to say first, to adinablue, that NO WAY am I holding my chapters for reviews! I think I've already expressed my views before. Thanks so much you guys!


	7. Christmas

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Christmas

Christmas, Syaoran's first with Sakura's family, swung round with it's usual annual cheer, Sakura at the head of the celebrations. She was Mama and Papa's only child, their only daughter. She was the Christmas princess. Decked out in a lacy red and green nightdress with Minnie Mouse all over it, Sakura padded softly out of her room and silently shut the door in her wake.

The entire house was almost living and breathing in it's quiet. It was as if it knew what she was going to do that morning, and held it's breath for her success. It was a very big deal indeed.

She walked the step to Syaoran's door, then decided knocking would cost her priceless stealth, so just turned the doorknob and went in. The door swung open noiselessly.

Syaoran was lying on his stomach on the double bed, the covers twisted around his legs. Sakura took this opportunity to study his face when it wasn't on guard. His features were relaxed as they never were when he was awake and aware.

With his eyes lightly closed, the only thing Sakura found similar to the conscious Syaoran was the sense that the slightest movement or sound would bring him to wakefulness immediately, as if he would just leap from the bed in defence. Other than that uncanny feeling, Syaoran seemed to be wholly at peace.

No matter, there were more important things to do, and peace had to be forgone. Sakura put her face close to his ear and called out his name softly. "Syaoran."

Syaoran jerked awake almost violently, and he tensed up for a moment before realising it was her, then his body seemed to relax fractionally. Sakura was forced to imagine if he'd expected to be back at the trailer park with this Papa. Somehow, she didn't think he'd have preferred that. Saying nothing, he watched her from his position on the bed, waiting patiently for any explanation she was willing to give.

Sakura could barely contain her excitement as it was, considering the date and time. Now that Syaoran was awake, she had to keep from jumping on the spot. "Syaoran." she struggled to whisper, "It's Christmas morning! When you're the first one awake, Mama let's you open the first present under the tree. If we do it together, I'm sure she'll let us each do one. We hafta go now!" She latched on to his arm and began pulling him from the bed.

"Sakura..." She had always thought he'd had some misplaced sense of propriety, but today was special, and she'd not stand for that.

"Oh come on, Syaoran! It's your first Christmas! Please?" He grudgingly got off the bed, but she could tell he was curious about what his first 'real' Christmas had to offer. When Papa had first brought in the Christmas tree and put up the decorations with Mama, Syaoran had looked on with awe, but Sakura knew that Santa had come in the middle of the night, and the first glimpse of the presents under the lit Christmas tree on Christmas morning was a true sight to behold. Syaoran simply had to see it; she wouldn't allow him to miss out on something so important.

They crept down the stairs like thieves, Sakura leading the way to the living room. Dramatizing as much as possible, she pushed open the double doors to the living room as if unveiling Aladdin's cave. The scene didn't disappoint. The glistening tree, as high as the ceiling, towered with brilliant lights and bells and ribbons and coloured balls. In the dark room, the tree caught and held the attention like the sun in the sky.

The coffee table in front of the fireplace held a plate with just crumbs on it and an empty glass, and Sakura knew undoubtedly that Santa had come and eaten all the cookies and drank all the milk she'd made Mama set out for him. Most of all, Sakura's mouth watered at the mountainous piles of presents under the tree. Unknown to Sakura, her mother had outdone herself that year, always aware of the new addition to the household who had yet to experience so much. Syaoran breathed in sharply next to Sakura, and she was happy.

She dragged him unceremoniously to the tree, and they sat down under it, with the presents beside them. Sakura crawled, with her butt in the air, to get at a present hidden deep inside the pile. Retrieving it, she sat back down and thrust it at Syaoran. "Here. My present to you. Open it!"

The wrapping paper was more scotch-tape than paper, and Syaoran accepted it carefully, as if it would break. Sakura bit her lip as he began to pry at the paper. Before he got past the first layer of tape, though, he set the present down on the floor and did some crawling of his own. Emerging from behind the tree, he passed her a small box with a neat little bow on the top. He'd obviously spent a lot of time wrapping it. Sakura took it and smiled a little tearfully at him. She knew how momentous this instant was. She'd remember it forever.

"Syaoran... open yours first." she clutched the box, fingers automatically picking at the bow as she watched him carefully peel the tape off his present. He was taking so long. Sakura squirmed in inpatience. "You gotta rip it, Syaoran! Rip it!"

But Syaoran's quick, nimble fingers had already begun uncapping the box. He took out the shiny new jackknife and flashed a disarming grin at Sakura. She felt struck by lightning. He had such a handsome smile, really, and he looked so happy... now if she could just get him to smile more...

"Never had anything new before." he said, almost observationally, "I like it." He looked straight at her and his eyes softened even more. "Thanks, skinny girl."

Sakura grinned in return. "Mama said I could get you something cool for Christmas. This way, everytime you use it, you'll think of me, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay. I'm opening mine now." she announced, and immediately tore the wrapper off the little box. Taking off the lid, she gasped in pleasure. It was a charm that she could attach to her jade necklace. A pair of blueberries sat in a setting of silver. Syaoran had remembered how much she loved all things to do with berries. Sakura took it out and immediately took off her jade necklace so she could slip it on the chain, then spotted the engraving on the back. It was a simple set of three characters, nothing really romantic. It just said, 'S&S'.

Sakura would have said much later how it would have been then that she had fallen all the way in love with Syaoran Li.

Biting her lip to stem the tears, Sakura looked up at him with swimming eyes. "I love you, Syaoran."

Syaoran quickly looked around, as if Mama or Papa would suddenly jump out from the stairwell and accuse him of compromising their baby girl. "Shh, don't say that, Sakura. People won't know what you mean."

"You don't have to say it back. Just say, 'It's forever'."

Syaoran looked at her with a world of emotion in his eyes. He said softly, "You're nothin' like nobody else in this world, Sakura. It's forever."

They didn't know it then, but they had come just as far as they were going to go.

NOTE: I'm so sorry it took so long! I just have so much to do, and I hope you guys don't... like... boycott me and don't continue to read. THAT WOULD BREAK MY HEART! I'M SO SORRY! Please review!


	8. A Gentleman's Birthday

Disclaimer: I don't own these people

A Gentleman's Birthday

"When's your birthday, Syaoran?" Sakura was sitting beside him, on the log, in the clearing facing the cliff, the sanctuary they'd chosen as theirs ever since they'd known they'd needed one. Sakura had just turned seven, two years after she'd first met Syaoran, yet she still didn't know his birthday, so they had never celebrated it. Not for lack of trying on her part, though. Whenever she broached the subject, he always changed it, and kissed her innocently on the head, knowing it would distract her, and it always did.  
Not today, though. He looked down at his grass-stained jean-clad knees, and then at hers pressed up beside him, and started to talk about something else. "Thanksgiving coming again," he said conversationally.

"When's your birthday?" Sakura asked calmly. At seven, she hadn't learnt much about patience, especially having been spoilt to bits by Mama and Papa. But with Syaoran, if he didn't want to talk, she knew to wait till he did. So she asked again.

"Aw Sakura..." he, the much older one at eleven, knew when something was considered 'dirty linen' and was meant to be kept private.

Sakura, however, hadn't learnt much about subtlety either, and went straight for the kill, arms outstretched. "Syaoran! Tell meee!" Catching him off guard, she tackled him full-body and they flew to the ground, him taking the full brunt of the blow on his back, her unhurt on top of him.

"Ahh! Syaoran! Are you okay?!" Sakura scrambled off him, then knelt beside his head and peered down, squinting in the fading sunlight as the day drew to a close.

When he groaned loudly, too loudly to be authentic, she was convinced he was going to die. 'Oh no Syaoran! No! Don't die!" What did the people in the TV do now? Sakura put her two hands on top of each other and started to push against his stomach, almost in tears, when she felt a rumbling under her hands. She looked up at his face through her blurry eyes, and saw that he was laughing!

At first, she was too relieved to be angry at him, then when she recovered, she tackled him again on the ground, screaming his name and hitting and biting everything she could reach.

"Okay, okay. I give. Sakura, I give!" At last, he hugged her to him, then let her go to lie on the grass beside him. Somehow, they always ended up beside each other.

"I though you were going to die!" she was still a bit mad, but he was Syaoran, and she was as capable of staying mad at him as she was of staying away from chocolate. In the last two years, she'd watched him become more and more open to her as a result of her constant prodding and poking and bothering, which, frankly, didn't allow for much of another reaction. His special smile was still only reserved for her, a fact that kept her warm at night with unexplainable feelings. Even when he refused to open up to anybody else and stayed as stubbornly defensive as the day he was brought to her, Sakura felt that ultimately, he would be able to grow properly with her help.

"I don't have a birthday, Sakura." This statement came so quietly that Sakura had to strain to hear. She cuddled closer. "They never celebrated my birthday like you do, and I never asked. I don't have a birthday." Sakura knew enough to know that 'they' referred to Syaoran's parents, whom he never talked about when he could help it.

Sakura looked at him, so sorry that she could barely speak. No birthday?! The sheer idea was ludicrous. And heartbreaking to a little seven-year-old girl. The tears jacked up in her throat again, and she just wanted to hug this poor boy and take him away. From what, she didn't know yet.

"We'll give you a birthday!" Sakura sat up suddenly at the inspired idea. "How about boxing day?! Christmas is the happiest season ever, anyway... but not Chistmas day, we got important things to do on Christmas day... not Christmas eve, either, you don't want the wishing person to interrupt Santa on his sleigh when he's going around... so... boxing day?" She finally looked over at him, to find him still on the ground, eyes closed, smiling up into the air.

She took his silence as consent. "Boxing day it is!"

In July, the weather was hot. The summer heat pressed down on everyone, moods got irritable and people went around in the shortest shorts they could dig out of hapless closets in a feeble defence against the heat.

Mama had given both of them leave of their chores for the day, because it was simply too hot to do anything.

But swim.

Sakura slipped and slid her way down the stones of the breakwater bordering the small lake, Syaoran in tow. More like a pond, actually. It was the highlight of the summer experience for Sakura to come swimming, especially when the weather was too hot to handle.

She was already down to her shorts when Syaoran started yelling, "Hey, hey, hey! What d'you think you're doing?!" She turned around to find his eyes tightly squeezed shut, and was confused.

"I'm going swimming! Don't you want to go swimming Syaoran?" His eyes stayed firmly shut. "Er... I guess if you don't want to go... we could do something else... but it really is a hot day..." she looked longingly at the pool, the stooped to gather up her tank top.

"Sakura... you can't just take off your clothes in front of me! I'm a boy! And you're a girl!" he groped about in silence for a moment, then settled for, "You should ask your Mama about this."

"How else are you gonna swim, then? I don't wanna get my clothes all wet. Mama'll break my neck!"

"All... all right. You go and swim, and I'll stay here and... keep watch." Sakura studied his lowered lids and laughed lightly.

"How can you keep watch with your eyes closed, Syaoran?! You're funny." Shrugging, she left the morally blustering Syaoran on the bank and went into the water, leaving the rest of her clothes beside him.

Much, much later, she would have realised that, even at eleven, Syaoran was already a gentleman.

The year ended only too fast. The anticipation of Christmas paled only to the excitement Sakura had for boxing day, Syaoran's unofficial birthday. She'd unceremoniously informed Mama and Papa on Christmas eve at the dinner table, to Syaoran's chagrin and mortification, but to Sakura's own pride, Papa only nodded his head and she could tell Mama had got to thinking.

Finally, the day arrived, and Sakura, having been the little Mastermind, was practically vibrating on the balls of her feet. She dive bombed onto Syaoran's bed at seven in the morning with pre-presents, as she had christened them, which was a new set of birthday clothes, as Mama had christened them. Syaoran fingered the cloth of the starched shirt and slacks with a kind of wonder on his face.

After staring, enraptured, at him for a full minute, Sakura pushed the neatly folded pile at him and said, "Change! I'll meet you downstairs, 'kay? Hurry!"

Sakura was sitting on the edge of her chair when Syaoran finally came down, all starched and pressed like a wrapped present himself. Mama scooted him to a seat at the breakfast table, and Sakura burst into introduction.

"This is your birthday breakfast! All your favorites. See? Sunny-side-up eggs! Mama says since you're twelve today, you can choooo..." Sakura trailed off at the look on Mama's face. Obviously, she wasn't supposed to give out the secret birthday present they'd prepared for him.

Syaoran was observing the spread silently, his face practically glowing with appreciation. He looked at Sakura and her mother, the woman who had taken him in when no one else would, and said, "Thank you ma'am."

Mama just smiled and said, 'Eat up, birthday boy. We've got more coming." and went back into the kitchen to see to that.

Syaoran turned to Sakura next. They stared at each other in quiet understanding.

"It's forever.", he said.

NOTE: Sorry about being very, very, late! I can only apologise, and thank you all for waiting me out!

Okay, let me give out a little bit, because it seems with the story hanging there, everyone's curious as to what age they'll end up and everything. I never want to spoil my stories, but... okay. They'll come back together as adults, and... they'll be separating very soon. Don't you feel that under everything there's an underlying feeling that this paradise isn't gonna last? Well, that's the way it is, people. Don't worry, I love happy endings. Enjoy!


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